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Karen and I have been raising two children for more than 10 years and the older they get the more I realize how little time we have left. We are feeling the pressure of the moments flying by and realize that we must be intentional with the moments we have left. Below is a list [...]

I stepped back to admire the completion of one of my first home projects. Suspended in air hung a porch swing ready for service. It didn’t take long for Karen and I to find this a great place to spend our evenings. We soon made habit of enjoying the cool breeze on our front porch [...]

The date had been set and we were on our way to saying the words, “I do.” We were beyond the big moment when I heard Karen say “Yes!” I asked her to marry me on a warm evening in July while sitting on our favorite park bench. She melted into my arms that night [...]

I recently tackled  a room remodel in our home. My wife had wanted to add some “character” to the kid’s bathroom by adding a bright color, wainscoting & a new mirror. While she was away in Dallas for a few days I decided to dive in and see if I could pull off a surprise. [...]

I sat on the floor in our living room in Lincoln, Nebraska with a small cardboard box and a bag of long nails. I was a fatherless eight-year old boy who needed to feel secure. I pulled a nail from a brown paper bag and poked it through the side of the box. One-by-one the [...]

I Recently refinanced our home and it was a much easier process than I expected. If you are interested in refinancing and you may be wondering how to find the best rate, the process I went through may be helpful. I had an interest rate of nearly 6% and was able to get my rate [...]

We were newlyweds sitting on the porch swing. It was our first house. Our first porch swing. Those days were full of new experiences. I remember a small piece of our conversation we had one evening on that porch swing. As we talked about our wedding and honeymoon neither of us could believe that a [...]

We have been pondering the possibility of giving up cable the past few months. We liked the idea of saving $840 over the next year but we also liked the idea of being able to enjoy the creative shows on HGTV and Food Network. Sixteen years ago we chose to not have cable because our [...]

While Karen and I were on our family vacation we schemed up a plan to remodel our son’s bedroom. Karen proposed burlap on a wall, and I proposed a wall covered in wood from shipping pallets. We also thought it would be cool to have some old military ammo boxes to put on his wall [...]

Karen and I are in the middle of remodeling one of the rooms in our house while are kids are visiting their grandparents. It has been fun thinking creatively as we pulled together a variety of design ideas.  The transformation is coming along well.  I can’t wait share the before and after images. For now, [...]

A Dad life is a fulfilling and rewarding life.

Our family is learning the importance of lingering with our neighbors. A few days back we put out an invitation to our neighbors inviting them to pull out their barbecue’s into the front yard of our home to enjoy dinner together. Some wheeled their barbecue’s down the block, while others loaded bowls and serving plates [...]

My wife and I recently celebrate 16 incredible years of marriage. It is hard to believe I just typed that…We started with several pre-marital counseling sessions under our belts. This turned out to be a good thing because it got Karen straightened out! Really, our counselor dug deeply into my past to expose my baggage. [...]

Last night I went through every personal setting available on Facebook and made significant changes. I am also being more careful about what I post since Facebook is leveraging my personal life for their financial viability. I get it that they are providing a service and needs to make money. In the end, they are [...]